Homemade Christmas presents – Coconut Ice
Wanting to make homemade Christmas presents but not sure what to do? How about coconut ice! Instead of the traditional half red and half white colours why not try red and green for a festive twist!
It is easier to make the mixture in two batches.This enables you to mix the colour in at the beginning of the preparation of the second batch so that it mixes thoroughly. Traditional recipes use caster sugar, but we find it a bit gritty. Icing sugar gives a smoother result.
Makes 28–32 pieces
Ingredients
2 x 125g icing sugar
2 x 100g condensed milk
2 x 100g desiccated coconut
A few drops of your choice of food colouring
Method
1. Line a small loaf tin with a piece of baking paper placed on the bottom and coming up two sides to the top of the tin. This enables you to lift the coconut ice out easily, without using a rolling pin.
2. Sieve 125g icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add 100g condensed milk and 100g coconut and mix well with a spatula.
3. Dust your hands with a little icing sugar and knead everything together. Press into the base of the tin and smooth out evenly.
4. Mix the second quantity of ingredients together including the food colouring. Combine well with your hands and press down evenly on top of the white layer.
5. Have a cooling rack ready, as this is the best way of getting the air to dry out the surface of the ice. Carefully lift the block of ice out of the tin and place on the rack. Dust very lightly with icing sugar and smooth over the surface, doing the same on the underside.
6. Leave for 3 hours. Then cut into squares, not too small but about 2cm, and leave to dry for another 2–3 hours before placing in an airtight container.
7. Make sure the container is airtight, as if not the ice will continue to dry out and become inedible within days. Otherwise this will keep for about 4 weeks.
They look lovely wrapped in cellophane bags, just add some Christmas ribbon and voila, perfect stocking fillers ready to be gifted.
